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With mass tourism kept at bay by the COVID-19 pandemic, now is the best time to be in the Cambodian city and gateway to Angkor Wat.

Before you set off to Angkor Wat, use this guide to plan your trip.

Located just north of Angkor Thom (the ancient capital of the Khmer empire), Preah Khan sees significantly less footfall than the likes of Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm. Dedicated to the father of Jayavarman VII, the complex is one of the grandest of all the temples at Angkor Archaeological Park. Its smaller size and reasonable state of preservation makes it an ideal place for visitors to while away an hour or two at least. The delicate religious and mythological reliefs, including dancing goddesses and holy sages, are a highlight of the complex. Although the main entrance to Preah Khan is in the east, most tourists enter at the west gate near the main road, walk the length of the temple, then double back to the central sanctuary to exit at the north gate.

It sounds “too good to be true”, right? No big resorts... miles of remote beaches... turquoise water... no crowds. The coastline of Cambodia is truly a tropical paradise! There are signs that things are changing, but today Otres Beach, just outside the Cambodian town of Sihanoukville, is untouched by commercial tourism. The beaches are empty and clean. Decent marijuana can be purchased legally (although the law is grey in this area as it is only legal to consume and NOT smoke!) at a number of hip bungalow bars set up along the beach. Drinks are cheap and very easy to come by, and your toes never have to leave the sand. Everything is rustic here, but there is a lot of charm in the dozen establishments along this remote stretch of beach on the Gulf of Thailand. The roads are still dirt. It’s off the beaten path. Air-conditioning is pretty much nonexistent here, and even electricity is hit or miss. Some describe the vibe here like Thailand 20 years ago before tourism was that country’s biggest industry. It’s what all of us beachcombers are looking for, and I found it at Otres Beach, Sihanoukville, Cambodia!

Skip the night markets if you’re after authentic handwoven textiles (most of what’s there comes from Thailand and Vietnam) and instead make a beeline for Weaves of Cambodia. Located in a sleek contemporary store attached to the Angkor Hospital for Children, the proceeds from your purchases go directly to the hospital, which provides free medical care to Cambodian kids an the disabled weavers of Preah Vihear who make these beautiful handwoven textiles, garments, accessories, and woven products, like cushions. I love the large vibrant textiles which make wonderful wall hangings and sideboard runners, however, there are also small inexpensive embroidered purses and wallets, like those above, that make great gifts that give back.

Anlong Veng was the last stronghold of the communist Khmer Rouge regime, which ruled Cambodia brutally from 1975-79, when it forced city dwellers into the countryside to work on collective farms. The result was some 3 million deaths due to executions, torture, beatings, hard labour, malnutrition, disease, and lack of medical care. The Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot was Brother Number One, while its military chief Ta Mok was Brother Number Five. Responsible for countless massacres as well as purges within the party, Ta Mok was also called The Butcher. Ta Mok remained powerful after the Khmer Rouge was overthrown in 1979, controlling much of this northern area of Cambodia and 3-5,000 guerillas from this base. After a party split in 1997 (yes, the Khmer Rouge survived almost 20 years after it was ‘overthrown’), Ta Mok took control, placing Pol Pot under house arrest. Following a government attack on Ta Mok’s house in 1998, he fled to the forest with Pol Pot, who died a few days later. Ta Mok was captured at the Thai border in 1999 and died in prison of heart complications in 2006. Travelers interested in Cambodia’s history can combine a visit to Pol Pot’s cremation site with a stop at Ta Mok’s House. Overlooking a lake that Ta Mok had made, the rustic house is decorated with a map of Cambodia and murals of Angkor Wat and nearby Preah Vihear. The cages at the front of the house apparently held tigers. The house is popular with Cambodian tourists, canoodling couples and monks.

Most travelers to Siem Reap are here to see the magnificent remnants of the Khmer Empire and don’t have Cambodia’s gruesome genocidal history high on their to-do lists. Those sorts of sites – the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek, where hundreds of thousands of Cambodians were buried in mass graves, and Tuol Sleng prison, where some 17,000 were tortured and executed – are reserved for the capital, Phnom Penh. However, for the curious, the completists, and those interested in Cambodia’s modern history, there are a couple of sights at Anlong Veng, not far from the Thai border. Anlong Veng was the last stronghold of the ruthless Khmer Rouge, which ruled the country brutally from 1975-79. The communist regime was responsible for the deaths of millions of Cambodians by execution, torture, hard labor, malnutrition, and disease. The cremation site of former Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot has been given the attention it deserves. None. After Pol Pot died while on the run, presumably of a heart attack, his body was hastily burned beneath a pile of rubbish. The site is covered by a rusty corrugated iron roof in a littered gully behind some decrepit buildings on the edge of Anlong Veng. On the main road a small hand-painted sign points in the direction of a gravelly track leading down to the site. Blink and you’d miss it. The site takes all of a few minutes to visit and is not worth a second longer. It can be combined with a stop at Ta Mok’s House if you’re heading to/from Preah Vihear.

To explore this national park, visitors travel on foot and by boat along estuaries through thick mangrove forests and over plank bridges in dense stretches of jungle. The park’s freshwater wetlands and evergreen forests provide a healthy habitat for hundreds of species of animals, but there are pristine beaches here, too.

The Last Point, opened a few years ago by expats, wants to get guests off the grid. The resort, on a barely developed island off Cambodia’s southeastern coast, is accessible by a 45-minute ferry boat ride. Four dollars a night supplies each guest with a comfy, mosquito-net-draped bunk in a bohemian dormitory, with neither electricity nor running water, but with a definite charm. (Private bungalows are available for $30.) A few creature comforts are provided at this quirky outpost—Pizzas are made in the wood-fired outdoor oven, morning showers use filtered rain water, and the bar is lit by a generator at night.

As an alternative to hot-air ballooning, scenic helicopter rides over Angkor Archaeological Park offer visitors another thrilling aerial take on the relics of the Khmer empire. What’s more, a helicopter provides possibilities for even wider exploration of Siem Reap and its surroundings, bringing remote temples and even the magnificent Preah Vihear complex near the Thailand border into play. Other highlights include views over Banteay Chhmar, a large and often overlooked temple area, and Koh Ker, which served briefly as the capital of the country. Reliable operators include Helistar Cambodia and Helicopters Cambodia.

Set in the hills above the town, Intra Ngean Pagoda (also called Wat Krom) is a prominent historic and religious site for the region. Guided tours explain the significance of the reclining Buddha, as well as the meanings behind the colorful woven tapestries, fascinating statuary and smaller shrines. Monks still live and work at a monastery on the temple grounds. As at all religious sites, visitors should dress demurely.

1 a.m.
The Chillest Nightcap

The evening crescendoes across town at Chinese House, a refurbished colonial mansion. Behind the colonial facades you’ll find exposed rafters, distressed walls, antique Chinese furniture, and eclectic tiles, eliciting the vibe of a mellow after-hours house party. The bar serves classic cocktails to a well-heeled crowd that clearly doesn’t want the night to end. Duck into an intimate corner for sophisticated late-night Cambodian snacks such as crickets with lemon pepper dip and beef lok lak, as you groove to live jazz bands or guest DJs spinning Motown and Asian house.

This appeared in the September-October 2017 Issue.